


not quite right

by Blue_Rive



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe- Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Oreichalkos is trying his best, Replacement AU, Till Death Do Us Part AU, aro/ace oreichalkos, artemis upped the rating with all her swearing, emotional breakdowns over horses, i blame everyone on there for this, i just saw a message about him not getting social cues and ran with it, next chapter is an older!lester character study so i'll edit tags when i post that, probably autistic Oreichalkos idk, the horses are a metaphor, this is basically a hc dump disguised as a fic, this only makes sense if you're on the toa discord apologies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-22 18:01:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21306245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Rive/pseuds/Blue_Rive
Summary: First chapter- Oreichalkos isn't Apollo. The other gods make sure he knows this.
Relationships: Oreichalkos & Artemis, Oreichalkos & Hermes
Comments: 5
Kudos: 58
Collections: Trials of Apollo





	not quite right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ArtJunkyard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtJunkyard/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Til Death Do He Part AU](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22075108) by [ArtJunkyard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtJunkyard/pseuds/ArtJunkyard). 

_ Okay, okay, okay. Hands by your sides, look forward, and just… go out there.  _ It shouldn’t be this hard. Apollo was supposed to love attention. Another thing on the list for how they were different, he guessed. Oreichalkos tried to shut down their nervously fluttering hands and stepped out into the throne room. 

“Ah, finally,” Zeus said. “Everyone, this is my…  _ son,  _ Oreichalkos.”

_ His son?  _ Even with the disdainful tone that Zeus said it in, Orei couldn’t help but be happy about that. It meant Zeus  _ wanted  _ them to be family… right?

“They will be taking over Apollo’s duties as long as he is mortal.” 

“Yeah, and how long will that be?” someone muttered. There were way too many glares and whispers and this wasn’t how it was supposed to go! Orei glanced around and found an empty throne- all the Olympians were already in theirs. He moved over to it and sat down. 

It was made of greyed wood, outlined and interlaced with gold. On the top of the back, there was a large ornate sun design, all jewels and gold and glass, so it must have been Apollo’s. 

He gave the other gods a nervous wave, suddenly acutely aware of how everyone had gone quiet. Zeus had that glower on that meant Orei had probably done something wrong, and he was probably just going to yell at him again instead of telling him what it was. 

“Thank you, Oreichalkos. You may go.” 

Orei practically bolted out of the throne room, thankful to be allowed to get out from under the gazes of the other gods. His vague idea of going  _ somewhere  _ didn’t last long, though, because a girl with glowing silver eyes ambushed him in the hallway. Artemis, probably? 

He barely noticed her presence behind him before there was a hand on his collar and he was being slammed painfully against the wall. 

“What the  _ fuck  _ is Father playing at?” Artemis hissed. 

Oreichalkos shied away from the forced eye contact, not knowing how to respond. “I… don’t know?”

“He said you were just here to do Apollo’s duties, but obviously that’s bullshit. You’re wearing  _ his clothes  _ and your hair’s up like his and you’re trying to be him-  _ do you know how big of an insult it is to sit in another god’s throne?” _

Oh, okay, that was what he’d screwed up. They pulled out the bun that Zeus had told him to put his hair up in- wait, did that count as disobeying Zeus? He shouldn’t do that. But on the other hand, Artemis was there and she was a lot more angry and in his face than Father was right now. “I could change?” he offered. He’d like to do that, actually. The gold jacket was all scratchy and uncomfortable and the black shirt was too thin and cold. If Artemis told him to, than it’d be okay. 

“That’s not the point! The point is, why is Father making you  _ be like _ Apollo?” 

Orei was confused, because she’d just been talking about it like it was important and now she was saying it wasn’t? Whatever. “He said, since he wasn’t going to let Apollo ever come back, that I had to take his place,” they explain. 

Artemis’ eyes widened and she let go of his collar. Orei caught himself before he could fall to the ground, but he felt all shaky. At least he didn’t have to look at her straight on now.

“Go back to Zeus,” she said, shoving him away. “I have to talk to my brother.” 

Orei didn’t  _ want  _ to do that, though, and he didn’t really have anywhere else to go, so he followed after Artemis. Then what she’d said caught up with him. “That’s not allowed,” he protested. And it wasn’t against the rules like taking his hair down, it was actually an important one that everyone besides him was supposed to follow too. No one was supposed to talk to Apollo when he was mortal. 

Artemis turned around to glare at him. “Do you think I give a fuck? Zeus can shoot as much lightning as he wants. I’m calling Apollo.” 

She tossed a coin at a fountain. “Fleecy, you there? Show me Apollo.” 

A blurry face appeared in the spray. “Sorry, I can’t let you talk to him right now.”

_ “What?  _ Let me talk to Iris.” 

Fleecy looked uncomfortable. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea.” 

Artemis took a few deep breaths, closing her eyes. “Okay. Okay. I’ll try again later.” 

“Artemis-” 

She waved her hand through the fountain, dissolving the vision. “I need to… take a moment. Why are you still here?” 

That was a question, and questions were supposed to be answered, but Orei didn’t want to tell her that he didn’t want to go back to Zeus. He could use something Apollo did as an excuse, but they didn’t know much about him, really, and after Artemis had gotten angry about him trying to be like Apollo before, that might not be a good option. 

“There’s no one else I’ve talked to besides Father and Hera, and I don’t know my way around Olympus,” he said instead. A half-truth. 

Artemis sighed. “That was a rhetorical question, and this is the part where you offer to leave. But I guess… I guess that’s a fair point. None of this is really your fault, anyway. Go find my brother Hermes and see if he’ll show you around.” 

That was a command that made sense and that he wanted to follow, so Oreichalkos nodded and left. 

He found Hermes sitting on a bench outside the main palace, furiously typing on his laptop. Orei waved, and then when that didn’t get his attention, tapped him on the shoulder. 

Hermes brushed him off. “One second, Apollo, I just have to finish this-” He paused, like what he’d said was catching up to him, and pushed down the laptop screen, squinting at Orei. “Right, you’re not Apollo. You’re… Oreichalkos, right?”

Orei nodded. “Artemis said to go find you.”

“Why would she-” Hermes sighed. “Listen, kid. I’m not blaming you for what Zeus is doing or anything, but maybe just… stop doing what you’re doing? Apollo’s down there as a mortal, nearly dying, and it’s just hard to see you going around, pretending to be like him. I don’t know why you were talking to Artemis, but she’s not going to take you being around well.”

“She ambushed me in the hallway,” Oreichalkos said, flapping his hands vaguely, “and made me talk to her.” 

Hermes laughed a bit. “Sorry, then. That does sound like her. I can’t show you around right now, though- I’m too busy with the mess of stuff that built up when communications were blocked.” 

Orei ducked his head and left to explore another room. He was learning fast, he thought ruefully. He’d picked up that he was supposed to leave the second time someone wanted him to. 

\---

The other Olympians mostly ignored him. Pointedly. Multiple times, he’d gone into a room, and when whoever was in there noticed he was there, they’d leave. He found himself trailing around Artemis more, since at least she was willing to interact with him. She’d gotten more okay with his general…  _ existence  _ since the first day, but she’d still yell at him sometimes- Hermes said that usually on those days, Apollo- the real one- had managed to get into some trouble again. Orei guessed it was fair for her to be mad then. He just wished it wasn’t in his direction.

He liked the Hunters, though. There was one girl, Hunter Kolswalski, who’s usually okay with talking to him, and the entire concept was cool. Orei felt a bit ripped off. Why didn’t Apollo have an equivalent? Plus, Artemis didn’t have to flirt with people or anything. He really didn’t get why Apollo was so into the  _ romantic love  _ thing. Being friends- actual, real friends- with someone sounded way better. 

He still hasn’t  _ met  _ Apollo. Fleecy- and Iris, when Artemis managed to talk to her- both won’t let her call him, and gods aren’t supposed to interfere with mortals. That rule was  _ important.  _ (When they told Artemis that, her response was usually some variation of ‘fuck off’. He knew lots more swear words now. They weren’t sure if that was good or bad.) 

Zeus had said that Apollo would probably hate him and try to kill him, but none of Artemis’ stories seem to line up with that. Zeus couldn’t be lying, though. He’d said that he wasn’t. Whichever it was, there was always the fact that when Apollo came back, Orei would be kicked out. It’s kind of hard to sympathize with Artemis and Hermes wanting him back so badly because of that. 

Apollo’s horses didn’t like Oreichalkos, which was a problem, because they were kind of cute in a on-fire and also terrifying way. He’d been as nice to them as he could, but attempts to give them treats got his fingers nearly-bit-off and trying to pet them reminded him that flaming manes and easily meltable metal do not go well together.

Orei ran a hand over the not-on-fire part of the horse, trying to get them to stay in place so he could harness them to the chariot. “Look, Dapple-”

_ My name is  _ Flame  _ not Dapple,  _ the horse protested in his head somehow,  _ and you are not Apollo.  _

Orei laughed, a bit, because he would have to be really dumb not to think of that all the time after all the Olympian’s reactions. “I know. I know, I know, I know- but please- I’m sorry, but can you just… I just need to drive the chariot, okay, my dad wants me to, I need to do what he says.”  _ This isn’t my fault, don’t blame me, let me do what I have to.  _

It works about as well on the horses as it does on the other Olympians.


End file.
